Soldiers without Guns: Women Defense Workers in WWII

I love a good first person re-enactor. A good re-enactor can make you feel as if you have just traveled back in time. They make you feel as if you have met the person they are teaching you about. As a history buff, I have been enthralled by their stories. I often quiz them about their lives. I always learn something from them and feel an attachment in a way that simply reading about the "person" or watching a movie cannot do. I become engaged with their lives.

Over the years I have engaged with Stacy Roth in this manner. She has programs as part of her "History on the Hoof" business. A great way for a local organization to hire her is through a Horizon Speakers Program grant available from NJCH for such a purpose. We have seen Stacy as Molly Pitcher, and as a refined 18th centuryb lady educating us 20th century people about tea. Most recently, I saw her in overalls and a red bandanna as "Rosie the Riveter" in hyer "Soldiers without Guns: Women Defense Workers in WWII" program. 

Technically, this was my second time seeing her as Rosie. The first time was at Peachfield a month earlier. I got lost. I got very lost. By the time I found Peachfield, Stacy was almost finished. She told me should would be reprising her role at the First Presbyterian Church of Woodbury Heights -- not far from Don's office. We all went. Ashley was asked to demonstrate the outfit welders would have worn. It was a bit big on her.

Stacy brought that era to life. All able women took jobs in order to free up the men so they could go off to fight the enemy. In "her" case she learned how to be a welder. Other women drove buses, made deliveries and took other jobs traditionally held by men. After her presentation, members of the audience were encouraged to share stories about their lives (or the lives of their parents) during WWII.

Her presentation made me think about life in America now.  We've been fighting a war in Afghanistan and Iraq for over a decade. Few Americans are making enormous sacrifices. Many are making no real sacrifices. Back in the 1940s, scrap metal was collected to make weapons. People made do with what they had. They grew Victory Gardens. The war was huge news. Everyone did their part for the good of the country. Today most of us don't have that same connection. Personally I know one person who was killed in action (David Weigle) -- the son of our former pastor. I know of a few others who have or who are serving. Most days pass without my giving that part of the globe a moment's thought. I think that is true for most (not all, of course) of the people I know.

It is a different time. 

We still need to support our soldiers, our vets and their families. They have many needs. 

I do not wish enormous sacrifices on our part, nor did I start writing this planning to turn it into a political statement. 

Thank a soldier, a vet, or their family today and every day.

Long time, no write

Whoosh went the past couple of months. Last I wrote it was May 8th and all of a sudden it is almost the 4th of July.

Life has been crazy busy. Lots of fun. Some work. And more fun.

May is always busy in our house. May 15th Don and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. May 17th Ashley turned 10. May automatically turns into celebration month around here.

Ashley celebrated double-digits with lots of sweets -- including my baking the Pillsbury recipe for Scotch Bars for her class, and brownies for sewing. This is more baking than I do most of the rest of the year. 

On her birthday we had a picnic with food from Tiger Noodle in Princeton, and walked down the street to Purple Cow for dessert from our local ice cream parlor. 

From the time Ashley was a baby until she was 8, each month I took a picture of her with "the bear" on this chair. Someday I'll scan the other pictures, but for now this will do.

There were other parties, including a family BBQ. It was a beautiful day, and not just because of the weather.

After May comes June.

We spent a few days up North -- three days in Quebec City and two more in Montreal. I'll write more about that trip in a separate blog entry.

June is the traditional end of the school year. As official class photographer, that meant chaperoning the class trip (to Jenkinson's Aquarium and the beach), taking pictures at the class party, putting together an album of pictures for the teacher, and juggling the odd end of school year calendar.

My freelance work with Patch was slow the first few months of the year. In its place, I started volunteering again in the PDS Lower School Library. That was a lot of fun. Too bad I can't convince them to pay me. They did, however, pay me to play with the Junior Kindergarten kids for a week as a substitute teacher. I smiled the whole week.

I also started serving on the Sustainable Lawrence committee -- think of it as a Roots and Shoots club for grown-ups. At our last meeting (I hate meetings, but these are fun) we discussed how we can join the bandwagon of states banning single-use plastic bags and implement a similar ban in Lawrenceville. The other big topic was what I think of as "Composting for Dummies" -- we have trash pick up solely for food waste, and yard clippings, which will then be turned into bio-fuel. It is a win-win as the fees for picking up food waste are a lot less (about a sixth of the fee) as picking up regular trash. This is a committee I support and feel excited about when I talk to people in town.

This month Patch has asked me to write a bunch of stories, and take a bunch of pictures. I interviewed Girl Scouts about the 100th anniversary of scouting (http://lawrenceville.patch.com/articles/troops-from-let-lawrence-ewing-trenton-celebrate-the-100th-anniversary-of-girl-scouts), local award-winning "Mustard Man" (http://lawrenceville.patch.com/articles/local-man-is-the-2012-grand-champion-at-the-world-wide-mustard-competition), and the Miss Amy concert (http://lawrenceville.patch.com/articles/miss-amy-rocks-kids-in-the-park#photo-10351149). The biggest coup, though, was when I took pictures of Lawrence High School's graduation from the floor of the Sun National Center (http://lawrenceville.patch.com/articles/photo-gallery-2012-lawrence-high-school-graduation#photo-10388619). The school liked it so much they gave me a by-line on the LTPS.org website.

Thanks to a friend from church, I recently received my first non-Patch freelance assignment. I've been asked to write a story for Chamber of Commerce publications in North Jersey. I am hoping this will lead to more work.

Ashley is now home for the summer. She wrapped up a week of Vacation Bible School at the Nassau Presbyterian Church. Next week (4th of July) we'll spend it together. I'm glad the work I do gives me the flexibility to spend time with Ashley as she grows up. Yes, the past two months have gone by in a giant WHOOSH, but so have the past 10 years. They are only little once.

Blue Ribbon Neighborhood

A funny thing happened one day in early April ... our neighborhood was adorned in blue ribbons. 

I had several thoughts as I walked around the neighborhood taking pictures:

1) Did we win an award? If so, I should write an article about it for the Lawrenceville Patch.

2) Is this in honor of Autism Awareness Week?

3) Does someone just like blue ribbons?

The answer was 2 -- as it was April 2nd, it was in honor of Autism Awareness. 

Then I began to wonder, how does something like this raise awareness? As I walked around the neighborhood taking pictures I asked random strangers about the ribbons. Not one of them (okay, it was a quiet afternoon and I only saw 3 strangers) knew why the ribbons were on the trees. 

My next step was to email the editor of the Lawrenceville Patch (Lawrenceville.Patch.com). He forwarded me a link to a Patch article about the town being decorated for Autism Awareness (I suppose I should read more of the Patch than just my articles). 

Mystery solved -- at least for my neighborhood.

However this reminded me of the time I was in college (late 1980s) and word got around that if we wore blue jeans on Friday it would show we were in support of gay and lesbian people. Really? Blue jeans on a college campus in the late 1980s (height of the fear of AIDS) would really show that? Try something that stands out like wearing lime green (school colors were blue and gold).

The blue ribbons were a nice touch, but I still don't think they raised awareness. Only those who knew what they meant got the message. Perhaps a sign with the blue ribbons would have helped. 

The Lady, The Chauffeur and the Locomobile

We are very blessed to be living in an area that is so full of history -- and a very wide array of history that spans over 300 years. This post features a modern woman from 1910 who is a role model even a century later. I learned about her cross country travels from Becky, the grand-niece of "the chauffeur," Harold Brooks.

Harriet White married Clark Fischer, owner of the Eagle Anvil Company in Trenton, NJ. Three years later, he died in a train crash, she survived the crash. She took over his business -- quite a daring thing for a woman to do at the onset of the 20th century at a time when women were not even allowed to vote. The men scoffed at her, but she soon turned the business into a huge success.

Fast forward a few years to 1909. She decides to embark on a journey that would take her around the world. Picture life in 1909. The Orville brothers had successfully flown an airplane only 7 years earlier. Many places did not have roads. The "war to end all wars" had not happened. The Titanic was just beginning to be built. Cars could drive at 10-15 MPH. To say life was a bit different, would be an understatement.

A quick question to see who is paying attention: Why didn't she just take a train? Answer: her husband had died in a train crash and she was afraid of traveling by train.

Harriet White Fischer did know how to drive, but she brought along her chauffeur (Harold Brooks), a chef (she still wanted to dine in style) and a lady servant. Brooks was in charge of the logistics for the trip and for maintaining the car. Fortunately while he did have to change the tires about 20 times, nothing else went wrong with the car.

He also took over 200 glass slides during the trip. Over the past century, these slides were transferred to more modern slides. In the 1970s (?) his family recorded him describing the slides as he told his side of the story. That is what I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing at the Benjamin Temple House in Ewing, NJ. 

Brooks took a picture or two at every crucial point during the trip -- the loading of the car into a boat, an airplane they saw in France, pictures at different stops, and at different sticky situations. I could learn a lot from him -- sometimes less is better. In today's digital age, I would take 200 pictures just of the car in a crate to get the right image. His relatively few slides told the highlights of an adventure that lasted over a year.

Another lesson ... record people's stories in order that the next generation may enjoy them. Mrs. Fischer was well-known locally, but not a household name today. Her adventures live on.

A lesson from Mrs. Fischer -- follow your dreams and go on adventures. You never regret the things you did do, only the missed opportunities.

Go out there and have some adventures, then write about them so they are never forgotten.

For more information: http://www.capitalcentury.com/1910.html

Egg hunts

Easter weekend was quite busy. I went to 4 egg hunts -- two for Patch, one for the family and one for friends. They were each different, and each a lot of fun!


Township Egg Hunt
200 children -- 4 fields -- and one Easter Bunny. 


The morning started chilly, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I covered the event for the Lawrenceville Patch:  http://lawrenceville.patch.com/articles/egg-citing-times-for-lawrence-easter-egg-hunts


I remember when Ashley was one of the little kids, we would go and see her township friends. It was a lot fun. Now, the only kids her age who do come, have little siblings. I saw my niece and nephew, and some other people I know, but it just wasn't the same as when I was one of the parents cheering for my little girl to find eggs.




McCormick Family Egg-stravaganza


A record number of the McCormick kids' classmates turned out for this hunt. That morning Debbi and Mike ran the Trenton Egg Hunt for the Kiwanis club. They took the 3,000 eggs out again and tossed them in their backyard. They also hide eggs with each child's name on it. The 30-35 kids had so much fun finding eggs, the McCormicks kept tossing them back out on the lawn. 








Venner-Hullfish Families Egg Hunt

The Venner and Hullfish families have been hosting an egg hunt in Lawrenceville since 1929. Even though families have moved out of the area, they return every year to dye 45 dozen eggs and hide them next to the Lawrenceville Swim Association. This year about 80 kids (including Ashley and a couple of her friends) hunted for these eggs. 50 of the eggs are identified with initials of family members. Kids who find those eggs receive a special prize. 


This year we helped them dye eggs on Good Friday. We loved the way they welcomed us into their family tradition and encouraged us to return next year to help again. Their goal is to keep this alive at least until the 100th egg hunt in 2028.


I love the tradition. I love the generosity of the families. We hope to help them again next year.


This was part of the same Patch article:
http://lawrenceville.patch.com/articles/egg-citing-times-for-lawrence-easter-egg-hunts

Family 


The last hunt had a lot less kids, but was a lot of fun. My parents, and Aunt Barbara hide a few dozen eggs around the yard and have the four grandchildren -- Aimee (almost 4), Daniel (4 1/2), Hayden (7) and Ashley (9) hunt for them. Ashley rehid some of her eggs so the little ones could find them and keep giggling. She is turning into such a big kid.

Easter 2012 -- He is Risen!

Easter 2012 was celebrated more than usual. It felt great!


Some parts were spirit-filled. Some were just fun. It is good in life to have a combination of the two.


For me, Easter is not complete without spending part of the day in church. 


Palm Sunday:
Taize Service at WINK. The focus was on the Passion story, instead of Palm Sunday (the church calendar allows for either scripture to be used on Palm Sunday). I still have troubles letting go and embracing the Taize style. 


We visited Miss Patti's church in Levittown, PA where their Signing Hands Praise Choir re-enacted the Passion Story using sign language interpreted contemporary Christian music. It was very moving and spirit-filled service.






Maundy Thursday:
For the first time, I attended a Maundy Thursday service and I am so glad that I did. We walked down to the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. The service started at 8 PM. The music included a cellist, whose melodic tones enhanced the choir's singing. As the scripture readings get closer to the crucifixion, the lights become dimmer. The service is sometimes referred to as "the service of the shadows." Hopefully we'll go again next year.


Good Friday:
Again we returned to the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. We were blessed to hear storyteller and pastor the Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt perform the Passion story. Despite hearing the same parts of scripture 3 other times that week, she brought new insights to it and made it come alive.


Easter:
It was hard, but we made it to the 6:15 sunrise service. The benefit to having Easter in March is that the sunrise service is later. It is a short service where the few gather in the cemetery around a fire pit and hope the neighbors don't call the fire department. The assortment of dress styles is always interesting to study. It ranges from traditional Easter attire to PJs (or so it seems). We were doing good to wear clothes and not PJs and hope it was too dark for anyone to notice.

After a nap, we went to the 11 AM service at Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church. Ashley sang with the children's choir as the new piano was debuted. It was great seeing the church packed and the flowers filling the apse filled with flowers. We changed for this service.

Bugsy Malone

I cannot say enough nice things about the drama program at Ashley's school. The program is entirely run by parents, who volunteer many hours to make sure every child who wants to be in a play has that opportunity. After holding auditions, the core drama parents divide the students into two casts. This gives everyone a chance to shine on stage, while creating built in understudies. The parents work tirelessly to get the best performance out of each student. It is a lot of work, but everyone loves it.


I've become the official photographer for the show. They grant me full access to take pictures non-stop during the dress rehearsal. In exchange, I give them 300 of my best pictures for them to disseminate to the cast with a DVD of the show.


This year Don worked stage crew. With two casts, there are also two sets of parent volunteers. In theory he was backstage the nights Ashley was not in the show. It didn't quite work that way, but he was able to sneak out and see her whenever she was on stage.


Ashley shined as the police officer who wanted to be a ventriloquist.


"Bugsy Malone" is not a very well-known show. It was a 1976 movie starring a very young Scott Baio and Jodie Foster as kids who were gangsters. Instead of killing people, they splurged them. No one dies. Everyone sings and dances and (in the end) gets along with each other. 


In many ways it was a lot of fun because it is an unknown show. The directors decided to have some fun with the plot and added vaudeville acts to keep it light. A stroke of genius was giving each showgirl a solo dance in which she held a sign announcing where the action was taking place next. The girls loved their solos and the stage crew appreciated a few extra moments to make sure the set was in place.


No more shows in the plans for now. We'll see what the future brings.